What if? Doxologies for Other Worldviews

I've been having a grand time reading Sire's The Universe Next Door: A Catalog of Worldviews with my Intro to Philosophy class at Eugene Bible College.

To help my students solidify some possibile worldviews, I've written the following verses, to be sung to the
Old 100th, aka "All People that on Earth Do Dwell."

The (familiar) Christian Theist Doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
--Amen.

The Modernist Doxology

Praise Nature from which Reason flows!
Whatever is, is right, it shows.
By Reason we all things control.

Cause and effect let us extol!
--Uniformity
The Nihilist Doxology

There is no truth. Nothing is real.
Meaninglessness is all I feel.
No need to take another breath
The only way out comes by death.
--Absurd!The Existentialist Doxology

Praise me because I am so great!
All values are mine to create,
as well as what is real and true.
I have no other hell but you.
--Autonomy.

The Postmodernist Doxology

There’s no one metanarrative;

Perspectives are all relative. 
All language is a power play.

Deconstruct everything I say!
--Power!!!

HUMOR: Philosophy Action Figures

Hilarious! Who said philosophers had to be wimpy and dry? Meet "Angry" Anselm, "Lethal" Locke, "Hurt'em" Hume, "Killer" Kant and many more at Philosophy Action Figures

From the creator:

"I had a little extra time on my hands the summer after my first year as a graduate student in Indiana University's prestigious philosophy department, so I decided to take on a project that would blend two of my greatest interests--or rather, one of my petty distractions and my greatest interest, which are philosophy and toys, respectively. I wanted to do something that would bring a discipline that is often seen as difficult, esoteric, and even irrelevant, into new light--especially in the eyes of young people.

I remember seeing a poster once in the graduate student offices of the sociology department at the University of Arizona that featured jokes based on the juxtaposition of intellectual subject matter with a toy-advertisement format. The only joke I remember (and perhaps the only joke worth remembering) from that poster is an action figure of Adam Smith with Invisible Hand action. I can all too easily imagine a crudely-painted 5.5-inch Adam Smith with a clear plastic, oversized hand accessory that fits onto his arm. It's a perfect gag. That poster, far from being inspiration for the current project, kept me from doing this for a long time out of a desire to avoid being unoriginal. But I've recently gotten over that desire. I'm very excited and a little bit embarassed to present my new line of philosophy action figures: Philosophical Powers!"

Today is the Feastday of St. Thomas

Happy Feastday of St. Thomas! In honor of the Angelic Doctor:

Learn about St. Thomas:

G.K. Chesterton's St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas, at the Catholic Forum

Think with St. Thomas:

Thomistic Philosophy Page

"Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."

"Hence we must say that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act. But he does not need a new light added to his natural light, in order to know the truth in all things, but only in some that surpasses his natural knowledge."

Laugh with St. Thomas

The Five Ways of Proving Santa Claus
Is God made of Soap?

Get your own St. Thomas Action Figure

Pray with St. Thomas

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.

Most loving Lord, grant me a steadfast heart which no unworthy desire may drag downards; an unconquered heart which no hardship may wear out; an upright heart which no worthless purpose may ensnare. Impart to me also, O God, the understanding to know you, the diligence to seek you, a way of life to please you, and a faithfulness that may embrace you, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

Creator of all things,
true source of Light and Wisdom,
lofty source of all Being,
graciously let a ray of Your Brilliance
penetrate into the darkness of my understanding
and take from me the double darkness in which I have been born,
sin and ignorance.
Give me a sharp sense of understanding,
a retentive memory,
and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations,
and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
help in the completion.
Through Christ, Our Lord.

Sing with St. Thomas

Pange Lingua

Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory,
of His flesh the mystery sing;
of the Blood, all price exceeding,
shed by our immortal King,
destined, for the world's redemption,
from a noble womb to spring.
Of a pure and spotless Virgin
born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
then He closed in solemn order
wondrously His life of woe.
On the night of that Last Supper,
seated with His chosen band,
He the Pascal victim eating,
first fulfills the Law's command;
then as Food to His Apostles
gives Himself with His own hand.
Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature
by His word to Flesh He turns;
wine into His Blood He changes;
what though sense no change discerns?
Only be the heart in earnest,
faith her lesson quickly learns.

Tantum Ergo

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
Amen. Alleluia.

A Snow Sabbath

Six+ inches of snow has fallen over the past twenty four hours here in Eugene-Springfield. We have been given another Sabbath!

Our daughter Joanna and our friend A. were both dreading the going back to school this week. Joanna had four finals today, and A. had two weeks of chemistry homework to do in two days. She and Joanna had been praying for snow, and, miracle of miracles, we got it, in excelsis!

So I sent this to A. in celebration:

(To be sung to the Doxology)

Praise God from whom all snowflakes dance

You have been giv'n a second chance:

Rise from your chem, no longer weep,

Tonight you"ll make up for lost sleep.

Cooking-impaired

Some people are color-blind. Some people are tone-deaf. I am cooking-impaired.

Another chapter in the Continuing Saga:

Last night I was grilling chicken. When I came out after 15 minutes to check how the breasts were doing, the right burner was out, so that the two breasts on the left were coming along nicely and the two on the right were stone cold. Aaargh!

Tonight I wanted to make a lovely meal for Steve and Joanna. Fridays are long days for them both, so I thought Beef Stroganoff would be nice. I had 1.5 lbs of beef, a lb. of clean white mushrooms, butter, onions, garlic, sour cream and a nice dose of sherry. After frying up the firm white mushrooms and onions, I left the beef to simmer in the liquid for half an hour, just as the recipe said. Alas, before the time was up, I began to smell something burning. I lifted the lid and presto--blackened beef glued to a sticky black base assaulted me.

I give up. I really shouldn't be doing this, and I can't wait until I don't ever have to enter a kitchen again. Pavlov was right. Negative reinforcement helps eliminate behaviors. My negative reinforcment rate in the kitchen is running at about 9o%.

So I have an idea: you cook, I'll clean! Or better yet, forget cooking. I'll bake, and we can survive on chocolate chip cookies.

Just for fun--The Color Quiz

I took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Needs a peaceful environment. Wants release from s..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Understanding Nominalism, Part 3: A Primer in Metaphysics

What you do depends on your vision of what is real.

At some point, the emergent/missional church needs to reconsider its metaphysical foundations, if it is going to move forward.

Philosophical metaphysics wonders about being; about what is real. Some of the questions metaphysicians ask are,

"what kinds of things are there? Only material things, or are there immaterial things as well?" (aka, ontology)

"does everything reduce into one thing, or are there many things? And if the latter, what relations do they have with one another?" (aka, the problem of the One and the Many; or the problem of Universals and Particulars")

Sometimes people use different words besides metaphysics to refer to the effort to answer these questions. You'll hear words like "narrative," or "worldview" or "presuppositions" or "story" or "hermeneutic." There are some slight variations in meaning between these words, but ultimately they all attempt, at some point, to deal with metaphysical questions.

I. A Primer in Metaphysics, Digest version

A. Premodernism:

1. The "building blocks" of reality are relationships. Being doesn't "reduce" down any further.

Matter and form. Substance and accident. Essence and existence. Potential and actual. Universals and particulars. Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

2. Premodernism uses "both-and" lenses to see the world.

Things are both able to be understood in their unity and in their diversity. What is real can be said to be both one and many. We understand what there is by using both left brain and right brain, both ratio/discursive reason and intellectus/intuition.

Everything that exists exists in a community, in a deep and real (not socially created, or individually imposed) relationship with other things. Christian premodernists believe that human sin has damaged all our relationships, with God, with each other, and with creation. Presently, apart from the Godhead, there is no perfect community, but there is hope, because Jesus Christ has come and is in the process of restoring it.

B. Modernism

1. The building block of reality is the discrete individual.

Modernists who are scientists almost always wind up being materialists, reducing everything to bits of matter in motion. Other modernists are more politically inclined, and reduce society to a contract between independently existing individuals. But whatever way you go, for modernism there is something more fundamental, more independent than the relationship.

2. Modernism uses "either/or" lenses to see the world. What is real are "many."

Modernism rejects the right brain in favor of the left. Thus, one must choose: either feeling or logic; either religion or science, either Kant's "practical reason " or his "pure reason."

Modernism tries to overcome the either/or dichotomy by desperately trying to find some unity for independently existing things. Hence, the 19th century emphasis on "the brotherhood of man," and the 20th century search for a "unified field theory."

C. Postmodernism (aka hypermodernism)

1. The building blocks of reality are...wait a minute: What reality? Yours? Mine? His? Theirs?

2. Postmodernism uses the "either/or" lens ground its ultimate power.

It sees the dead end of modernism, and struggles to avoid it by rejecting the oppression of the left brain and favoring the marginalized right brain. But in so doing, it is still a captive of either-or thinking. Either be a subject or an object; either be an "I" or an "it"; either freedom or opression, either master or slave.

What is real are the "many," but Postmodernism is skeptical of ever finding any unity for them. It rejects Modernism's attempts to overcome the either/or dichotomy, and so tries going the opposite direction, emphasizing the diversity of all independently existing things. Hence, "multiculturalism" and "diversity training."

Nietzsche, the Prophet of Postmodernism, understood that the chaos of diversity could only be overcome by the dominating will of the "Ubermensch." When God-- who is Himself a perfect community, and who has created a world to be in perfect community with Him--is dead, so is all hope of authentic relationship. The Ubermensch is the epitome of the either/or: either his will, or none.

II. Why this is important for Emergents/missionals:

The very notion of mission is relational. Mission means showing and telling others about how Christ is able to truly unify us with the Lord, with each other, and with creation.

We can't fulfill that mission if within our own understanding of self, world and God we are operating with a metaphysic/hermeneutic/narrative that contradicts and subverts that mission. Integrity of mind and heart and soul and strength are critical.

Mission without a coherent metaphysic is like trying to read and write with only part of the alphabet. The modernist understanding of mission only used the consonants; the posmodernist understanding is only using the vowels. To tell a story completely and coherently, you have to use all 26 letters. It's not an either or. It's a both-and.

So why hamstring ourselves by limiting ourselves to either vowels or consonants? We will not be able to carry out the mission of showing and telling Jesus very well, for what we do depends on our vision of what is real, and the reality of mission is that we need to be able to use both.

By extension, then, a missional church needs to experience both the journey and the destination. We need to be able to recognize both that which is universal and that which is particular; we need to know both truth as intelligible and truth as mystery; we need to both Jesus as human, and Jesus as divine.

Modern and postmodern narratives cannot support both-and thought and action, but a premodern narrative can.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Rev. 21:3)

There's nothing more both-and than that!

(Gary, Brian, Donald, and Leonard...are you listening?) (grin!)

Update on A.

A's mother D. has arrived! Her visa allows her to stay 6 months. She is a warm, delightful woman who has not seen her daughter in four years, and who is just now meeting her two-year old grandson for the first time. I cannot imagine the emotions that she must be having. I wish I could speak her language, instead of having to have A. or H. translate, but it is wonderful how much we can communicate despite that barrier. She brought me a beautiful orchid and lavender print silk scarf, thanking me repeatedly for caring for her daughter. I wish I could find words, even in English, to tell her what A. has meant to me.

D. brought A. a very special, very costly, very black-market gift: a small, finely woven, handmade Persian rug showing Jesus next to a cross. It is a work of art which H. and D. will frame. The other night A. was having lots of pain, and H. was frantic, unable to do anything. Then he lit on an idea. He got the carpet and laid it over her, saying, "He has helped you before; He will help you again." A was comforted and relaxed, and was able to fall asleep.

Today when Steve and I visited, she proudly showed us the carpet, explaining the risks D. took acquiring it and the dangers of transporting it in her suitcase. Then she turned very solemnly to Steve and said, "Pastor, I make confession to you. When it is time for me to die and go up there I want this rug on me." She laid it across her tiny frame. "Not this way," she said, pulling it up over her face. "Promise me this way," she insisted, pulling it down so that Jesus' head rested over her heart.

It is moments like that that make up for all the ------- in ministry.
Next Wednesday H's mother and father arrive. It will be a full house. H. has told A. that he wants his parents to know that she has become a Christian, and that he is prepared to tell them himself. He has promised to defend her against any criticism they might make. A. is relieved but also nervous, I think, worrying about what might happen when her husband is gone. It is probably good her mother is there at the same time.

A. finished her final chemo last week. She made it through all eight rounds this time. She will never, ever have to have another round as long as she lives. Tomorrow they remove a kidney stent that has been giving her tremendous pain for the past year. As long as she was on chemo, they wouldn't touch it. We praise God for the gift of each day, and ask that she might have strength to enjoy these days with her family.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Responding to Out of Ur,: "Disarming the Boomers"

"To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal." --Simone Weil




Out of Ur has been running a couple of entries here and here that speak about how younger pastors can relate to "Boomer" pastors. They are entitled (provocatively) "Disarming the Boomers:
Can a younger pastor bring change without getting blown away?" Here's the lead-in:

Let’s be honest. The distance between the Boomers and Busters isn’t just a generation gap—it’s a generation gorge. The cultural, technological, and philosophical shifts that have occurred in recent decades have given these two generations fundamentally different perspectives"

David Swanson writes,

One of the phrases that a young leader grows to loathe is, “You need to be patient.” Or at least I did. The truth is that “slow” and “fast” are very subjective. After a couple of years, I began to recognize the subtle looks of panic as I would suggest strategies or new ideas for the church. While these ideas seemed reasonable to me, to some of our Boomer leaders they sounded quite risky, radical even.

I am 53 years old, and I couldn't agree more, David. Speed certainly is subjective! Your slow may be my fast. But think about this: for both of us--as well as for those from the Psalmist to anyone who is suffering from evil and injustice--God's fast may be our slow. And similarly, for God, both Boomers and Busters must be incredibly slow. You might not be the only one who is impatient.

So maybe we should try to think about things not simply from our own subjective framework. (That is, after all a very Modernist thing to do, as Descartes--one of the Early Modernist Fathers--demonstrated.) Maybe neither Boomer modernism nor Buster postmodernism offer a perspective that is best able to be faithful to Christ.

Maybe we should be truly relational, and always be asking, "how can I keep in step with the Lord? What speed is He moving at?" None of us-- Boomers or Busters or Whatevers-- will ever be able to fully match His pace in the Kingdom dance Even as He is patient with us, we need to be patient with Him and with each other.

At the same time, we should always keep singing the psalmist's constant refrain, "How long, O Lord? How long?" All of us--Boomers and Busters and Whatevers-- share that song.

"Post-denominational," including a Radical-Modest Proposal

There's lots of talk these days about being "missional" and "post-denominational." These are rhetorically wonderful words and carry lots of excitment and, perhaps, even hope. But the philosopher in me likes to chew on things before swallowing them. So what do these concepts really mean?

An Aside:

Wherever there are conceptual vaccuums, we tend to fill them with images and dreams...not a bad thing, necessarily, but its like an engine only running on half its cylinders. For best Kingdom performance, we need to run our brains from both "sides." We need both concepts and images; logic and passion. I'm worried that after the Babylonian captivity of modernism, we are no closer to the Promised Land than before, as we are in the process of selling ourselves out to a different master.

Back to the Question:

So what does "post-denominational" mean? Here's some possibilities: (Of course, I welcome your further ideas.)

1) It means returning to a pre-reformational/pre-denominational ecclesiology. In other words, we should all quit being Protestants and return to the Holy Mother Church headquartered in Rome....but that hardly seems likely.

2) It means protesting protestantism by becoming a Restorationist. The Restoration Movement deplored creedalism and the institutional church and sought to restore a "primitive" Christianity unsullied by history's corruption.

But alas, we've been there and done that, and now the Restorationists have fractured into three main groups, including the Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ and Independent Christian Churches and Disciples of Christ. Is there a lesson here for churches today that similarly consider themselves "post-denominational?"

3) It means facing up to the nominalism of our day and embracing it, by admitting that the "universal" of a denomination is a fiction or worse. Thus, each individual faith community becomes it's own island. Any talk of it as part of an "organism" betrays a lingering belief in something greater and more universal...and the real possibility of it morphing into a dreaded Institution.

Put it this way: if what is really real is the individual, how can there even be a "universal" like a "faith community?" If we're in this business of deconstructing, let's not stop half-way. Let's not only deconstruct denominations, but these "communities" as well into the discrete, unique individuals that compose them. Then we'll certainly never again be plagued by institutionalism. We'll not only be post-denominational, we'll be post-ecclesiastical! (How about that for a Radical-Modest Proposal?)

Oh. Sorry. I've gotten carried away. Let's start this over.

There's an interesting dialogue here http://www.spcc-storrs.org/blog/archives/2005/06/have_denominati.php

about "post-denominationalism" between Ben Dubow from St. Paul's Collegiate Church at Storrs and Kevin Flannery that I find quite instructive. For Dubow, "denominational" is a negative thing. He writes,

"most denominations seemed more interested in organizational and institutional survival than in authentic Kingdom-building. ..
it seems to me that almost every denomination--for good or for bad--was born polemically.

And this is the problem. Their very nature is to be defined by what or who they are not (negative), as opposed to what or who they are (positive). Lutherans aren't Catholics and Baptists aren't Lutherans and Penetecostals aren't Baptists, and on down the line---but always defined in the negative.
In today's increasingly post-Christian world, I am not sure that
we can afford to be so polemical."

While heartily agreeing that denominationalism has its problems, Flannery responds, gently suggesting that Dubow has committed what philosophers call a "self-referential absurdity:"

"Seems that your comment that... '…almost every denomination--for good or for bad--was born polemically'… shows that this 'post-denominational' approach is subject to the exact same criticism. It is born out of a polemic against denominations. Denominationalism can without a doubt be problematic. I agree!... but I don't know that you have jump this hurdle by adopting a prefix."

Long ago there was a Covenant video entitled "A Great Ambition." (It's now available on DVD.) I remember a scene in it where the screen flashes from a baby being baptized to a group of mourners standing over a fresh grave. The voice over went something like this: "soon, every movement discovers it needs to marry and bury...it becomes an institution..." (the screen flashes to an old fashioned letterhead from the early days of our denomination) "...this is how the Mission Friends became a denomination: the Evangelical Covenant Church."

Such an understanding of "denomination" is not polemical, but indead positive. Postmodernism, suffering from a surfeit of skepticism, tends to see negatives; after all, deconstruction is its very DNA. Flannery, however, argues for positives:

The church that I am with joined a denomination recently (technically this denomination prefers to be called an affiliation—they sidestep things by rejecting the word denomination so that they wouldn’t have to defend its negative connotations). We wanted to join because we wanted to be a more dangerous church to the kingdom of darkness and a more glorifying church for the Kingdom of Light. We have formally only been members a few short months, not even a half of a year, but I think we are already better for our affiliation. Our kingdom perspective has broadened. Our teaming with other churches to advance the cause of Christ is more a reality today. The resources we have to advance God's kingdom have grown. For us joining an affiliation seemed clearly to be “a” way to be a more powerful church for God. This may not be the case for all churches that are unaffiliated, but it has been ultra positive for us.

Thus it seems like "post-denominational" may be more of a buzzword than a helpful concept. Dubow's reply is chastened:

... I guess, the key issue may be "good denominations" vs. "bad denominations" (though this seems a bit to black and white...)
At the end of the day, I would say that the key issue for me is mission. It used to be that denominational affiliation was so powerful because it linked one local church with many local churches with the shared mission. Unfortunately, increasingly today there is often less and less shared mission within many larger denominations (though, this is not universal).

Notice how the discussion pivots from "post-denominational" to "missional." Now we need to examine what is meant by "missional," and ask, "Can we be missional without being nominalists?" But that is another entry.

A's earlier dreams

I realize I haven't written about A's earlier dreams. Isa (Jesus) first came to her in a dream, which seems to be a common way for Muslims to encounter Him. (See here and here and here ).

She had just received word that her cancer had returned, after a year's remission, and she was devestated. A. is such a transparant soul--she wears her emotions so openly. (Shades of Matt. 18:3!) I can imagine how she must have been weeping and unable to be consoled. It was at this point that she dreamed of a Man with a bright face standing before her, reaching out his hand. I can't remember all the details now, but the bottom line was that it made her feel hopeful and curious. Then H's Christian cousin came, and led her to pray at the closest church (which was ours.)

After Steve and I met her, she had another dream. This time A. didn't see the Man's face, only his back, but he was motioning to her to follow him. She knew then is was Isa, and it wasn't long before she was following Him. She was baptized shortly after Easter, 2007.

A. grew impatient when Isa didn't seem to be returning to her dreams. She wondered if He had abandoned her. I spent lots of time explaining that He hadn't, and that she should look for Him to come to her in other ways: through Scripture, worship, prayer and the fellowship of believers. She accepted this, but with a degree of resignation.

A. also became impatient with God, Who didn't seem to be in any hurry to heal her. She had fully expected that once she followed Jesus, He would heal her as a sign to all her friends and family as a sign of His power, and the truth that He is the Son of God. "But I became suspicious," (i.e., doubtful) " she confessed. Every cycle of chemo became more and more difficult. Those same friends and family members in Iran tolerated her new faith, but they were skeptical. A. became so frustrated that she cried out to Jesus, "if you won't heal me, maybe Satan will!"

Then she had another dream, but this one was quite dramatic. Satan came to her, "like a woman with red, red lips," and promised her that he would take away her cancer if she would worship him. The choice was clear: she could either trust Satan or trust Christ. A. was filled with fear, and dreamed that she put a Bible over her head for protection. Pleading with Jesus to forgive her, she told Satan to leave her alone.

"Fine, I will; but I will send you even worse pain!" he threatened.

She awoke, told H. about the dream, and they went back to sleep. A few hours later, A. awoke in excrutiating pain that lasted non-stop for three days. Her oxycontin did nothing to ease it. and H. was at his wit's end, seeing his wife suffer so. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, at the end of those three days it disappeared. A. understands this episode to have been about more than her physical illness. "I feel like I am having the experiences Christians have over many years all compressed," she confided to me. "I was tempted but I did not renounce Jesus. I see I will never do that now."

This was followed many weeks later by another dream: Jesus knocked on the door of their house, and A. opened it and covered His feet with flowers. It was a happy dream; one A. takes to mean that Jesus is also interested in her husband and son. After that her dreams ceased, until this last one about Mary.

A. has another dream

Today I visited A., our Persian friend who is battling gastrointestinal cancer. She had the last of her series of eight major chemos this past week. We are praying that this will lead to another remission. Her doctor has told her that her cancer is incurable. Two years ago she went through six rounds of chemo that bought her a year of health. Now she has gone through another eight rounds of even more powerful chemo, to be followed with pills. Her two year old son, M., and her faithful husband, H. have been her inspiration for continuing to fight for life.

But it has been a mighty battle. A. is physically decimated. She is now confined to her bed, moving in and out of consciousness. This afternoon she told me she had had a dream where a dark-skinned woman "with eyes like honey" and a glowing face came to her, pulling a black scarf over her hair. She said she was Mary, Jesus' mother, but A. was troubled and refused to believe her.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because her skin was dark, like a sun-tan. But her eyes were like honey," A. whispered.

"But A.," I said. "Mary was a Jew; she almost certainly had dark skin and dark hair." At this A.s eyes flashed. "What, Mary was a Jew? Then I not need to be suspicious!"

(I take so much for granted. How could A. not realize Mary was Jewish? But probably the image she has of the Mother of Christ is more like Raphael's fair-skinned, blonde Madonnas than a Semitic peasant girl. There is so much to learn. And unlearn.)

"No, you don't need to doubt. Mary was no stranger to suffering; she stayed by her Son as He died on the cross, you know. I'm not surprised she would come to you in your suffering. Or that Jesus would want his mother to comfort you." With that A. smiled and closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Lost" and the Church

Every so often a television show comes along that can be seen as a metaphor for the church. A generation ago it was "Cheers." Today I think it is "Lost." No. Seriously. What other program illustrates such an attempt to live in community? Sometimes I think the whole series is about the process of sanctification.

We've been watching Season 3 of "Lost" on DVD. Last night we watched episode entitled "Left Behind." This series has a lot of religious allusions and connections.(That title, for instance, certainly wasn't an accident.) Some are laughable, like when Kate says she had to learn about the saints in Sunday school...

Update: (or why I've been incommunicado)

Susan left for SPU on January 2.

Every year, Steve takes vacation time off between Christmas and New Year's. This year we didn't go anywhere, but stayed home watching episodes of Lost, (much better to follow a show on DVD without commercials), talking, baking, and reading. Perfect! Susan spent hours at my computer preparing grad school applications and dunning professors for recommendations. It will be exciting to see where the Lord plants her.

We sold the sofa so I can get the car back in the garage

Of course that meant cleaning the garage, getting rid of all the boxes and junk that had accumulated on and around the sofa, so the wonderful people coming from Craig's List could actually see it. That entailed some trips to St. Vinnie's. It also meant putting away all the Christmas decorations that had been piled beside the sofa, waiting for there to be space so the ladder could get to the storage space above the garage doors. Amazing how one thing leads to another...

I've been providing/arranging care for A.

So there's this interim between E's departure on Jan. 1 and A's mother's arrival from Teheran on Jan. 16. I've been trying to work with A's husband H to see that A. is not alone with their two year old son M. They wake up between 10 and 11 and A. is usually rested and somewhat energized, but quickly fades after an hour or two. I put out an appeal and it looks like between a CNA friend at Church of the Servant King and a few of us at VCC, we will be able to assist A. Now if H. would only let us know if A. is going to have more chemo, and when we should come.

Epiphany Open House: January 6

Enlivened by Steve's Famous Home-made Egg Nog (eggs, whipping cream, half and half, powdered sugar and lots of vanilla) and wonderful friends, I am now back to my blog. Every year we throw an open house. We've done it during Advent, between Christmas and New year's, on New Year's Day, and even for Valentine's Day; but this year we had it on the Twelfth Day, Epiphany Proper. Lots of candles, gold and white, and star motifs for decorations. Susan made two pans of golden baklava before she had to leave, and I made Judy's extraordinary lemon bars. Now though the Swedish meatballs are but a memory, the fellowship will fortify us for another year!

EBC Winter quarter begins

As if to make up for being laid off from NCC, the Lord has given me an absolute dream class for Intro to Philosophy. Twelve of the brightest, best, most dedicated Christian students I know gathered around the table in Bryan 102 this morning, after being double booked for Bryan 101 with Bonnie Lee's class. I am SO excited to have such a concentration of faith and intellect. This is going to be fun.

Tomorrow at 8:00 am we'll have Fundamentals of Reasoning. What a cruel hour; and that's a class that involves a ton of focus and hard work. Oh well, the good thing is that is will be done with early on, leaving the rest of the day for less demanding fare.

Epitaph for 2007

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him."

Philippians 1:27-29 TNIV

This would make a good epitaph for 2007, in my opinion. What will be the one for 2008?

Lord, this year continue to help me to learn how suffering can be a gift, for Jesus' sake. I confess I've been pretty thick headed and slow to do what I can to relieve the suffering of others around me. Please fill me with your hope in 2008, so that I might do a better job of this, and be more eager to receive all that you have in store for me

...for what I want is to want nothing less than You.

Bulldozers and Beatitude (A Meditation for Epiphany)

Bulldozer rampage in Colorado

Friday, June 4, 2004 Posted: 10:47 PM EDT (0247 GMT)

(CNN) -- A man reportedly angry about a zoning decision drove a large bulldozer fortified with steel plates through Granby, Colorado, Friday afternoon, demolishing parts of the town center and exchanging gunfire with authorities, officials said....

See also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na1_welzfxo

http://www.leechvideo.com/video/view1080098.html

Marvin Heeyemer was angry. So he decided to destroy Granby.

"I think God will bless me to get the machine done, to drive it, to do the stuff I have to do...." he said. "I'm trying to be as prepared as I can be to do what I believe needs to be done. What God has inspired me to do.....it's definitely in God's hands. It's not in my hands. Without a doubt I'm building it, but there's a reason why I am successful at continuing this project....When you visit evil upon someone, be assured it will revisit you....How come they didn't catch me? I wasn't supposed to get caught."

Why do people always seem able to hear God telling them to take revenge, but never when He tells them to forgive? How is it that we are so ready to claim divine inspiration confirming our own desires, but never want to test what we think we are hearing it against the scriptures, which are indeed God's word?

Epiphany is a time of revelation, but what is being revealed is neither a program nor an intuition but a Person. And whether it is Epiphany or not, we should always take time to compare our private illuminations to Christ, the Truth.